A few summers ago, my daughters & I went to see Half Nelson on its opening night in Los Angeles. It had opened earlier in New York, & I had learned that Ryan Gosling's performance was
garnering early Oscar buzz for Best Actor. In Half Nelson, he plays a teacher, teaching about the civil rights movement--I did the same a couple of lifetimes ago at the University of Iowa, so there was no way I could ignore this film. We went, we saw, we loved it.
The very next day, we went to the Sunset Junction Music Festival in the Silverlake neighborhood of Los Angeles, next door to 
my own neighborhood of Echo Park. We were having quite a good time, and as we were about to leave, we saw--or thought we saw--Ryan Gosling! Walking around with a few friends & carrying a motorcycle helmet. (Guess he got to Sunset Junction on a motor bike--safely.) We looked at each other; either we were engaged in a multiple hallucination after seeing a great movie or that was the real Ryan Gosling.
Finally one of my daughters resolved our doubts by striding up to Ryan Gosling's back, tapping him on the shoulder, then asking 'Are you Ryan Gosling?'
With my 'be nice to my daughter' gears in full force, I watched protectively as he said he was; then she said 'I saw your new movie last night & really liked it'; he smiled sweetly and thanked her, then even asked about her & her name.
It's nice when a celebrity turns out to be a nice guy.
